


Losers

by MeCrossYou



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe, College AU, Comedy, Easy Read, M/M, POV Change, You’ll forget it immediately after reading, losers - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-24
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-27 22:00:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5066005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeCrossYou/pseuds/MeCrossYou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loser /ˈluːzə/ (noun)<br/>1.	informal  A person who fails frequently or is generally unsuccessful in life<br/>2.	Takao, definitely. Midorima, also.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. coffee

**Author's Note:**

> This is a very light fic, nothing deep, just light comedy and sometimes embarrassingly losersih situations. It is very very light and easy read, so if you’re looking for quick time pass with no emotional commitment, this is it.  
> This is, basically, a bunch of random prompts from tumblr thrown into one story.

**coffee** /ˈkɒfi/ (noun)   
1\. The best thing in the whole wide world   
2\. Black drink or something – smart definition 

To Takao, in that particular moment in time, coffee was the best thing in the entire world. Seeing as he never really enjoyed it before, we might want to look a little back into the story. 

Growing up, Takao was a fun kid. He was smart, social, had friends. He never really changed that much in character. That serves as the description of him, because his childhood has nothing to do with liking coffee. That, is a result of much more recent events. Events that took place in a coffee shop near near not away down the street. 

One day, on a warm October morning, a university student named Takao woke up in his dorm room. Warm rays of sunlight fell down his sleepy face making his lips curl up in a smile. Sadly, that was quite unusual, because the young man was not a morning person. Nevertheless, Takao woke with a smile and a feeling of a good upcoming day. 

It was a fine autumn Saturday, which meant no responsibilities and an opportunity to spend the whole day watching movies or reading a book. Takao liked days like these, because despite being social and having many friends, he was a very lazy man. Do not underestimate the laziness of a physics major. Takao himself believed that only the laziest people studied sciences like physics. They wanted to invent things that would do everything for them. 

So that very morning, Takao spent in bed, watching a movie and thinking about breakfast. Thinking about it, not making any actual attempt to get some, because that would require getting up which would consequently contradict his beliefs about the lazy Saturday morning rule. 

When he finally did get up, it was well past noon and the need for food conquered laziness with cannons and gunfire. Or so Takao thought, because those were the sounds in his stomach. It had to be. 

As Takao searched all his cabinets and fridge for food, the hard realization hit him like a mountain troll with a club. And Takao imagined very often what that would feel like in real life, because he was sure as he was smart, there was one such troll living in the first floor room number 13. Takao was now aware of the fact that he had no food in, and he inevitably had to go out. 

Getting ready Takao sorted out his possibilities. As his list would have made more sense to be one word instead of a list, where that one word took places numbers one, two, three and four, he’ll just have to get a pizza. There was one place down the street, a nice local coffee shop, where one could get slices of different kind of pizzas along with one’s coffee. Takao loved that place. Usually, he went there for free wifi and pizza, because he rarely drank coffee. He had a friend working there, a barista, nice girl, who told him stories when she wasn’t too busy. Funny stories about silly customers, plots of her favourite movies, disastrous dates with annoying boys. It was a good place to spend gaps between lectures or procrastinate at evenings. 

It didn’t take a long time to get ready, because Takao wasn’t too picky about his outfits and didn’t exactly care what people thought about him, so he didn’t bother with changing his clothes at all. Pyjamas would have to fit. Since it was the university campus, no one would consider it particularly weird anyway. 

When Takao got to the coffee shop, he was faced with a disappointment. The already small space was cramped with visitors. Never before have Takao seen so many people there. Astonished, he used his elbows to get to the counter where his friend, undoubtedly annoyed from the roots of her hair to her toes, and unmistakably tired, was making some kind of coffee with a ton of different ingredients. 

When she saw Takao, she fixed a fake smile and murmured trough her teeth, so that nobody but him would understand “Fucking give me a reason to take a break or I will fucking poison your pizza.” 

As a child, Takao was always a prankster, his humorous character and light personality, not to mention Oscar worthy talent for acting, making it easy to get away with basically anything he wanted, so when his improvising was needed to help a friend in need, he acted on instinct. 

“Help!” He shouted grabbing his throat. “I have hypothermia!” He coughed hard, trying to make an agonizing face. 

Everyone turned to him. One woman shrieked, which, Takao, who was fake dying, thought was too much. Couple of people looked curious, couple started weirdly waving their hands, but most of the coffee shop visitors looked shocked and gathered around Takao wanting to help, but not knowing what to do. 

His friend ran to him from behind the counter and with a very fake worry said loud enough for everyone to hear: 

“Come, sir, we have first medical aid kit in the back!” 

Takao almost facepalmed, because if he was really dying, he definitely wouldn’t be the one going to get the kit, but he went along with it and didn’t drop his dying act. 

“Thank the Lord and Saviour, I was about to flip in there” the girl exclaimed as soon as the door was firmly shut. She opened the back door to the shop and lit a cigarette. 

“Don’t you think someone will notice that it was fake?” Takao laughed sitting on a table. 

“No, they’re all bunch of idiot tourists, some kind of church choir from a village I forgot the name of. And Daiki knows you, so he knows what happened. He’ll deal with the crowd himself. He owns me from the time he spent an hour here with his boyfriend on a rush hour.” 

“They are still dating? I thought his boyfriend travelled a lot being a model or something” 

“Yeah, but they make it work somehow. I don’t know and frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” She replied, exhaling a smoke. 

Takao didn’t really like her co-workers, so he didn’t pry anymore. Instead, he rummaged through his friend’s coat pockets and found some candy. He ate it, ignoring her disapproving look. 

“So these tourists, are they staying here? Because I have a need for pizza and this time, maybe even coffee, because I brought my computer and I’m totally going to work on a paper.” Takao asked, mouth full of irises. 

“Some are staying, but most of them go out. I think they have an hour or something, before their bus leaves. Good luck trying to find a place to sit in there.” She raised her eyebrows when Takao tried to open his mouth but couldn’t, the irises glued it together. 

When he was finally able to do it, she had already finished her cigarette. 

“I have to go back to work…” She sighed. “You go find a place to sit, I’ll bring your coffee and pizza to you, because it would only rise suspicions if the man who was dying five minutes ago would casually go to make an order of pizza.” 

“I could be celebrating my survival and seizing the day, you know.” Takao joked, jumping off the table and going to the door. 

“Yeah, maybe do that some other time.” His friend said, with a smile on her face. “I’m going to break the news of your survival to the crowd.” 

When she opened the door, Takao waited a moment before the attention of the customers was attracted to her while she talked and slipped out of the room unnoticed. 

Looking around, Takao contemplated his possibilities. All the tables were taken, but some of them had only one person sitting next to it, so he could ask someone to let him sit there. There were three such tables. 

Option 1. Old lady, doubtless one of the tourists. She had a messy bun of hair and looked a little bit crazy, with huge glasses covering half of her face. Her clothes had at least three different colours of fur on it. 

Option 2. A guy, about Takao’s age, with a computer on the table and a book in his lap, most likely writing some kind of report for school. 

Option 3. A douche looking guy with a fullcap looking around for girls, seemingly disappointed that instead of usual girls who hang out at coffee shops, the place was filled with old tourists. 

That nice Saturday, Takao didn’t want to listen to cat stories or have interaction with douchebags, so he went for the option 2. 

“Excuse me, may I sit here? Everywhere else is taken.” Takao asked with a polite smile. “I won’t bother you, I just want to work on a paper.” He showed his backpack where his computer was. 

The guy looked at him surprised and a little bit curious. Takao figured he just pulled him from a deep study trance. Did he know what day it was? 

“You’re the guy who was fake dying just now.” The other guy said, with a piercing look. 

Takao stared, not knowing what to say. He didn’t expect to be recognized by people in the back of the shop was one thing. The other, not less important thing, was that he was caught red handed, so to speak, and didn’t have an escape plan. And one more thing, that Takao thought that very moment, was _rude_. He was just fake dying, how could some green haired four eyed guy who had his nose stuck in a book on his lap or eyes glued to the screen of his computer, call him on his bullshit. Even though, it was, in fact, bullshit, and the guy had every right to do so. While he stood there, utterly speechless, his friend came over with his pizza and coffee. 

“Are you sitting here, sir?” She asked with a mocking tone, especially on the word sir, which Takao wanted to kick her for, because there was no way the green haired guy didn’t pick up on the mocking tone and there was no way to play the ‘it wasn’t fake’ card now. He glanced at the young man behind the table with a questioning look, because what was left for him to do at that point? 

The guy looked at him for a second before speaking. “I don’t mind.” Was all he said. 

Takao thought maybe he should run and hide in shame somewhere, but he felt strangely intrigued by the stranger and sat in front of him. His friend placed his food and drink in front of him and, shooting him a confused look that said ‘tell me later’, went back to work. 

“Thanks.” He said. “For letting me sit here.” 

“It’s not my table and you said you won’t bother me.” The eyeglasses said, not looking at him, stare fixed on his laptop. 

Takao nibbled on his pizza. Should he ask or should he just finish his food, pretend to write something on his laptop and run? He figured, what can get worse, the other man already knew he faked. 

“How did you know?” He asked. “That I was faking.” 

The green guy looked at him a little annoyed, probably because Takao wasn’t supposed to talk to him, but hey, he kind of brought it on himself. 

“Hypothermia have entirely different symptoms, not to mention there’s hardly any way you could have gotten it around here in this weather, so there’s that, and you have fresh candy remains stuck in your teeth, as well as the barista who just came here smelled of fresh cigarette smoke.” 

Wow. Well, that was something, Takao thought, while furiously trying to lick his teeth clean. 

“That was the first medical word that popped into my head.” He explained. 

“Hmm.” Was all the other guy said, before looking back to his book. 

Takao stared at the curious stranger for a while, before deciding that to hell with it, he'll just work on that paper. He took out his laptop and opened it, sipping his coffee. Forty minutes later Takao found himself on a Wikipedia page on hypothermia, feeling like an idiot. An open Word page had one line written on it: "Atoms and fuckity fuck something god damn name later". He tried concentrating, but all his efforts ended in vain, as he could not concentrate at all, his thoughts going back to the weird stranger at the other end of the table. Somehow he just couldn't work, thinking that this strange guy with green hair thought he was an idiot.   
So he tried talking to him again, because in Takao's mind, making yourself look more annoying, asking dumb stuff and breaking his promise to keep quite surely had to fix his image.   
"So, what are you doing here?" He asked, mentally slapping himself for acting like a four year old kid.   
The green haired guy looked at him, incredulous.   
"Are you serious?' He asked.   
"Eee, maybe." Takao wanted to crawl under the table.   
"Writing a report." Replied his table companion after a short pause, seemingly deciding, that Takao was mentally impaired.   
"Cool, cool. What on?" Maybe under the table wasn't quite sufficient, he would have to bury himself under the building. He just couldn't shut up.   
At that point it seemed that the stranger would just get up and leave, but he replied with a cold tone:   
"A report on the side effects of health problems caused by environmental causes. For example, hypothermia."   
And put a building on that building as well as several buildings around it so he wouldn't have a chance to ever crawl out. He was a medical student. Of course Takao had to find himself in the most unfortunate situation. By this point he just had to shut up and run.   
"I'm not stupid, you know." He said, instead. 

His uncle knew a guy who dug graves professionally, he needed to get his contacts. 

“Is that so?” the stranger said not really making it a question, obviously unconvinced. 

“Yeah, totally, I study physics and stuff.” Takao really didn’t know why did he feel the need to assure the stranger that he was smart and why did he talk to him in the first place, but he felt a strange pull at his tongue urging him to speak. Same pull must have pulled off half of his IQ also. 

“Why are you talking to me?” asked the guy, probably tired from him. 

“I don’t know, maybe because you’re cute.” 

And then, it was crystal clear, that Takao Kazunari does not exist. From that very moment, he will never again be known by his birth name. He is Bob Bobbings, a man from Philippians. He’ll dye his hair and work in rice fields. Never to be seen again. He’ll live in a small house in the fields with no internet and no other connection to the outside world, because he will surely not deal with what he just said. He’d much rather run and hide and wallow in his stupidity. 

The stranger turned red and began stammering something Takao could not understand. Smart thing to do then would have been politely apologize and get away, because Takao obviously made the guy really uncomfortable and he had no idea why he said what he said in the first place, because he didn’t think, he just spoke. That wasn’t really like him. But Takao just went along with it, because screw it, he was going to be Bob Bobbings anyway, soon. 

“What’s your name?” He asked with a smile. Was he mocking the stranger? It wasn’t intentional. He was mocking himself, making himself suffer for his stupidity doing something so embarrassing. 

The stranger looked at him, still flustered. 

“I have to go right now immediately.” He said, gathering his things. 

That was for the best, because Takao wanted to get away, but obviously his flee mechanism was replaced by his idiocy one. Still, he felt sad. Probably because as embarrassing as it was and he’ll definitely die because of it, he felt like he won’t be able to live with himself thinking that this man remembered him in an awkward and unpleasant way. 

“Just tell me your name, first.” He asked. Then, when he did not get a response, he made the cutest face with a smile he could manage and repeated “Pretty please?” 

“Midorima. Midorima Shintarou.” Midorima sputtered and ran away with his things, not saying anything else. 

Cool, Takao thought. He couldn’t believe that just happened, where the fuck did he find it in himself? His friend came over. 

“Oh my god what did you do to that poor guy? He ran away like you just threatened to cut his balls off.” She laughed. 

Takao banged his head on the table, embarrassed. 

“I’ll tell you all about it, but first I have to decide if I’m going to Philippians or am I just getting stone dead drunk tonight.” 


	2. dark

**dark** /dɑːk/ (noun) 

1\. The absence of light in a place 

2\. The base for many scary stories 

Midorima had someone flirt with him before. He was a grown up university student, of course that was something that had happened before. But never quite like this. 

When he heard that guy calling for help, he jumped up immediately. He was a medical student after all and did have at least some medical background. But when he saw him, he could continue his work with no worries. He actually giggled then, smiled at the humorous situation. All other people in the cafe (minus the workers, who, Midorima assumed, knew what was actually happening), were worried and in shock. Midorima couldn’t believe that there were all those people and neither of them knew what hypothermia was. That was highly unlikely. Everyone knew that. But, obviously, he was wrong. So when the guy who was dying from imagined and very fake hypothermia approached him about the seat at his table he couldn’t stop himself from saying something stupid. He was worried for a second that he came off as rude, but soon learned that the other guy didn’t seem to be too bothered about it, because he didn’t stop talking. And my, did he talk. Couldn’t shut up. Midorima did think, that the black haired guy was an idiot. But maybe that was just his flirting technique, because apparently, he was a physics major who thought that Midorima was cute. Just remembering that made Midorima blush. And then his face heated even more in embarrassment when he remembered his response. He was a grown up man and he should have dealt with the situation like one. Instead, he let out some weird alien like language sounds and fled. Abandoned the ships as fast as he could, because he was a coward. The whole situation just seemed highly illogical. He did say his name to the stranger, though he could hardly imagine how that mattered, because he did not leave any form of contact to him. Not like Midorima would ever admit that he wanted to. 

He decided to forget what happened as soon as possible. He had other responsibilities and problems to occupy his thoughts. For example, he was changing dorm rooms. His old dorm room caught in fire after his useless roommate fell asleep with a cigarette in his hand. Midorima had a feeling it wasn’t a cigarette, but he said nothing. Nothing of his got particularly damaged and he got a chance to get rid of that horrible, messy guy. The best that came from that, is that he got a single room in other side of campus, the dorm where only the rich or the best students lived. Midorima wasn’t rich, but he definitely was one of the best. So he got to live alone, as he wished, but the moving process was really bothersome, with a ton of papers to fill. Not to mention the amount of homework to do with that, and he was crazily busy lately. 

After the incident at the coffee shop, he invested himself in the moving business and got so busy, he actually, for that time, forgot the dark haired man who faked dying to, Midorima assumed, help his friend. Which was kind of funny and cute. 

Midorima spent the whole afternoon walking from one end of the campus to the other, moving his things to his new room and signing papers. He made his last trip around 10 pm and it was already dark and chilly. There weren’t very many people, which was weird, because it was Saturday and students usually partied. But as the weather got cooler, they probably partied inside. Good, Midorima thought, let them burn inside rather than out, then. 

As he walked in silence, contemplating was it too early for gloves yet, he heard someone running behind him. And that someone was running fast. Midorima turned around just in time to see a man colliding into him. 

That was the moment Midorima saw stars up close for the first time in his life. Different sizes and colours bright spheres behind his closed eyelids, spinning and creating a vortex which made him slightly nauseous. He was lying on the cold pavement and someone was right on top of him. 

“I’m so sorry, but we have to run!” That person screamed at him. He pulled still dazed Midorima up to his feet and dragged him, running, down the street and behind the nearest corner. 

“What the hell?” Midorima demanded. He took in the sight of the man who was now leaning against the building wall, catching his breath. It was really dark in the alley he got pulled in, so he couldn’t be sure, but… 

“Shhhh, they’re still after me!” The other man shushed before looking back to Midorima. He stared, for a bit before smiling. 

“Shin-chan! You are, aren’t you?” The man asked excitedly, poking Midorima’s chin. “It’s really you!” 

“Shin-what?” Midorima asked confused, trying to brush the man’s finger from his face, but that damn digit kept coming back. 

“Midorima Shintarou, the medical student from the coffee shop earlier today.” The man explained and now Midorima was sure that, yes, this is, in fact, the same man he met today, who said that Midorima was cute. Midorima was sure of another fact, also. The man was drunk. He reeked of alcohol, his speech was slightly slurred and movements uncoordinated. 

“I remember you.” Midorima finally got the man to stop poking his cheek. “But what’s with the name?” 

“What, Shin-chan?” the other man laughed. “It suits you. I think it’s cute.” 

Midorima hated himself for blushing again. He decided to change the subject before he made a fool of himself. Yet, again. 

“What are you running from?” he asked, instead. 

The man carefully looked around the corner. 

“These two guys are chasing after me. They think I stole one of theirs phone, which I didn’t. I just hid it under the fridge.” 

“Why would you hide someone else’s phone under a fridge?” Midorima asked, astonished. 

The dark haired man sighed and slid down the wall. Now he was sitting on the cold ground, back to the brick block. He sighed once again, looking up at Midorima. 

“I was at this party… and these two guys were taking photos of drunken girls in the most compromising positions without their consent and making fun of them, threatening to post the photos on Facebook if they didn’t blow them. So I took the phone when they got distracted, deleted the photos, sent all the contacts on the phone a text that said that they both were sexually attracted to goats, and hid the phone. Then I had to run, because someone told them they’ve seen me with the guy’s phone.’ 

Midorima stared. While he was against using someone else’s phone to compromise them, he admitted, that what this man did was well-grounded and the assholes deserved it. And also, it was kind of cool. Suddenly, he felt a strange respect for the guy. 

Suddenly, he heard fast footsteps coming their way. It sounded like two very angry men, shouting profanities at a “fucking asshole” who, supposedly “took his motherfucking phone”. The black haired man looked at him, eyes wide and scared. Midorima acted fast, taking off his coat and covering the other man with it. 

“Turn your head away, cover your face and pretend you’re sleeping.” He murmured to the young man, who, seemingly, understood and did just that. 

Midorima stepped out of the alley and looked around. Two big, muscular men where rushing about. One a bit further down the street and the other right in front of Midorima, not ten metres away. When he noticed him, he immediately strode to him, with big steps and wailing arms. Midorima knew from psychology class, that people, who wanted to look scarier, made themselves look bigger, but this guy stood so wide with his legs and arms to so far to his sides, that he resembled a very drunk circus bear. His face was square, with a big nose and small, angry eyes. He looked more funny than scary at that moment, though Midorima knew that the guy was much stronger than him and could easily punch his brains out, so he didn’t feel like telling him that. 

“What are you doing here?” The bear guy demanded rudely. He stank like alcohol and sweat. 

“Do we know each other?” Midorima inquired politely. 

“I don’t give a damn fuck. I asked what are you doing here, you four eyes.” The man came closer to Midorima, making a threatening face. Midorima decided to just get it over with, with as less trouble as possible. 

“I was just going home and saw this man right there.” Midorima showed at the guy covered with his coat, lying on the ground in the alley. “I thought that maybe something had happened, but that’s just a homeless guy, passed out. He stinks pretty bad, also. I called the campus security, so they’ll deal with him. I’d like to just go home now.” He really hoped it would work. 

The big guy scrunched his nose, probably trying to think. He looked at the guy in the alley and scratched his head. 

“Whatever.” He said, finally. “Did you see a small fucker running here somewhere?” He demanded. 

“There was one guy who ran that way a minute or so ago.” Midorima waved to a complete opposite direction from where he stood. 

The big guy threw him one last look before shouting to his friend “Bro, there!” and hurrying away. 

When the footsteps of running men fell silent Midorima heard a quiet laugh from the alley. 

“Man, that was totally awesome.” The black haired guy stood up, taking off Midorima’s coat. 

“Awesome? They could have beaten you to death. Be glad it’s so dark and that guy is as stupid as a donkey with a concussion.” Midorima snapped, taking his coat and wiping it down. 

“Well, to me it was fun.” The man laughed again. “And wait, do I really stink?” He sniffed the air around him. 

“Yes.” Midorima replied, getting dressed and not looking at the other man. He was afraid he might smile, because after the threat was gone, the situation did seem a bit funny. 

“Oh come on, loosen up a little. And I think that’s the alley that stinks, not me.” The man decided, fist bumping Midorima’s shoulder. 

“Whatever.” Midorima said and laughed, because that sounded too much like the bear looking guy. He quickly caught himself, embarrassed. The black haired man had a talent to force a smile from him, which was so peculiar, Midorima was amazed. 

The said man stared at him, eyes wide. “You should do that again.” 

“Do what?” Midorima asked, confused. 

“Laugh. That was terribly cute. And by terribly I mean like, amazing.” 

Midorima blushed furiously and cleared his throat. 

“I should get going. It’s late.” He said and turned to go, when the other man grabbed his elbow. 

“Wait!” He shouted. “Don’t leave me here alone.” 

“What? Why?” Midorima was, again, confused. 

“I’m… I’m afraid of the dark.” The man said, shyly. 

Midorima stared. Was the guy mocking him? He must’ve been, because this was absurd. 

“You’re joking.” He declared. 

“No, I’m… Look, I left my things at the party, it’s down the street. Could you please maybe walk there with me?” He cocked his head to the side with pleading eyes. 

Midorima was about to say no, but something in him stopped him. Walking with a strange drunk man in a dark street at night wasn’t the best idea, but Midorima couldn’t bring himself to leave the guy alone. 

“Alright.” He finally agreed. “But aren’t you afraid those guys will come back there?” 

“No.” The man laughed. He did that a lot, Midorima noticed. “They want the phone back and they still think I got it. They’ll take a while longer. And when they finally get back I’ll be long gone.” 

They started walking in silence. Midorima figured that silence was unusual for his companion, but the guy seemed to be too concentrated on walking, which was probably not that easy while intoxicated. Midorima also noticed that the man looked much better in clothes, than his pyjamas, like that morning. He wore blue skinny jeans and a black shirt. Midorima desperately thought of something to say when he realised that he didn’t even know the man’s name. 

“What’s your name?” He asked. The man looked at him confused and then laughed, when the realization hit him. 

“Seriously, I forgot I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Takao Kazunari. Nice to meet you, Shin-chan.” 

“Really, we don’t know each other that well for you to call me that.” Midorima frowned. 

“Yeah, but I’m looking into the future for when we do.” Takao winked at him and concentrated back on the road. 

Midorima seriously had to work on his blushing, because it was hilariously out of control. 

“This is it.” Takao announced, waving his hand at a house where the party was still in full bloom, judging by the sounds coming from it. 

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Midorima asked, worried. Somehow, he was genuinely concerned about the man named Takao. 

“Yeah, m’fine. I’ll get my stuff and ask a friend to walk me to my dorm, because’ I’m a responsible adult.” Takao joked. “Thank you, Shin-chan, for helping me. You’re my hero.” He winked, and before Midorima could say anything else, hurried to the house. Before entering he turned around and shouted “See you later!” and disappeared in the mixture of loud noise and drunken people. 

“See you…” Midorima muttered and turned to go home with a small smile. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I guess Takao decided to get drunk... Next chapter on Saturday!


	3. party

party /ˈpɑːti/ (noun) 

1\. An excuse to drink 

2\. A place to meet people 

3\. Gathering something something 

“Hey, uncle, remember you said you knew a gravedigger? Could you get me his number?“ Takao asked his uncle, talking on the phone. 

„Seriously, Kazunari? Again? Go deal with your problems like a real man and stop making a fool of yourself in front of every single one of your crushes.“ The man groaned annoyed and hung up the phone. 

Takao sighed. "See you, Shin-chan..." Yeah, see you, what the actual... Takao could think of several things that went wrong that evening.   
First of all, he was drunk. So drunk, he could barely remember the evening at all. He was pretty sure that the only thing that kept him from forgetting it all was embarrassment. He was so drunk that he, without a doubt, made a fool of himself and Midorima now thought Takao was some party animal fuckboy who stole people's phones.   
Second thing, is that Takao acted as a fucking child, giggling, poking the other man and calling him Shin-chan. Shin-fucking-chan. What the hell was he thinking, it came out so naturally he didn't think. Which was kind of natural too, while drunk.   
Thirdly, Takao admitted of stealing someone's phone, and even had Midorima save him from the men who were chasing him because of that and walk him back to the party. Not home. Back to where it all started.   
Nevertheless, Midorima did save him... quite heroically too, if Takao was willing to admit. That was pretty badass.   
The most embarrassing part, though, was that he promised to see Midorima again, without asking for his number or anything. After that, Takao spent a whole week asking around if anyone knew Midorima Shintarou, but nobody in his circle of friends was familiar with such a name.   
And so, Takao crushed like a teenage girl. It's been quite some time since Takao had a crush that strong. He felt it. His dog felt it. His friends felt it and made fun of him because of that. But Takao had nothing to do, because the administration office refused to give him the list of student contacts. Maybe he should have made up a heart warming love story to woo the lady who had access to them. Maybe he should try, later.   
Now, however, he had promised to go to another party. Another weekend, another party. And this time, it was Halloween themed, because some of his friends were crazy about stuff like that and he had to wear a costume.   
Takao was contemplating between a slutty bat and something like a giraffe onesie that covered all of his body and preferably face. Could he be a giraffobat? He could try. Go big or go home. But what if by any chance he’d meet Midorima there? He had to go as someone really cool. He had his old basketball player uniform somewhere… But Midorima didn’t seem like a guy to go to parties, so that was only a wishful thinking. Takao was a bit of a dreamer, so he decided to make himself look good, put much work into his costume and look amazing, just in case. He was so motivated and so pumped for it that he wanted to start right away. But there were still a few hours left until the party, so he decided to watch a movie first, just to pass the time. 

Several hours later, Takao found himself going to the party in a giraffe onesie. Fuck everything and fuck his lazy ass, he decided. 

The party was going hard already, when Takao got there. He saw like seven different slutty bunnies. Men and women. There was a couple of guys not wearing any costumes, obviously too cool for that. Pirates, ninjas, a Disney princess… he had to find his friends. But first, beer. 

As he made his way through the crowd to the drink table, Ariel the mermaid came up to him with a plastic cup. 

“Here’s your beer.” She said with a grin. It took a moment for Takao to realize that that was his friend. 

“Wow, you look awesome.” He said appreciatively, taking his drink. 

“I know, right.” She laughed. “This party kind of sucks, though. None of our losers of friends are here yet, so you’ll have to stick with me for awhile.” 

“Yes, miss.” Takao gulped half of his beer in one go and sighed. “I really don’t feel like being here today.” 

“You lovesick fool, you still moping around for the one who got away?” 

Takao choked on his drink. He wasn’t that obvious, was he? “Stop saying that, it makes me sound like a teenager.” He looked around. “And besides, he hasn’t really gotten away, I just can’t find him.” 

His friend said nothing to that, just smiled a wicked grin. 

“What?” Takao asked. 

“Nothing.” She replied, though it obviously wasn’t nothing. 

“Let’s go dance.” She dragged him to the middle of the room that was somewhat vacated of furniture to make a dance floor. His friend was an amazing dancer. Takao wasn’t so bad himself, but he really didn’t feel it today. He wanted to go get drunk and then, maybe, go running just in hopes of finding Shin-chan. Just thinking that made him feel gross, so he quickly laughed it off and danced like he meant it. 

When he finally left his friend to dance with some guy that she liked, he was warm, sweaty and his mood has gone up remarkably. Having fun did that to a person. He took another beer and decided to go get some air in the balcony. The night was chilly, but he was warm and wore a fucking onesie, so he was good. The view was pretty good, but he didn’t have time to appreciate it, since one of his friends came running to the balcony, dragging someone behind him. 

“Hey Takao, have you met Midorima?” the friend asked quickly, pushing Midorima to the balcony and running away, closing the door behind him. 

Takao was sure he was as red as Ariel’s hair right now, because fuck if that wasn’t obvious. And to sweeten the deal, he was a giraffe, while Shin-chan was a badass basketball player, with a uniform, and a basketball. He stood there, staring at Takao, with raised eyebrows, seemingly waiting for some sort of explanation, Takao couldn’t give. 

“Hey.” Was all Takao could say. 

“Hello.” Midorima replied, looking a bit confused. “That was your friend, I assume.” 

Takao laughed, scratching the back of his head. “Yeah, I really don’t know what just happened…” He lied. He knew exactly what those evil bastards were doing and he was either going to kick their asses, or thank them. Depending how this went. 

“I see.” Midorima looked sceptical, so Takao figured that the man wasn’t easily fooled. 

They stood there awkwardly for a while, staring at each other, before it was too much for Takao, so he laughed and tried to play it off as a joke. 

“Whatever, they probably got tired of me beating their butts at the dance floor, so they found you to keep me company.” He sat at a bench near the wall and smiled up at Midorima. What the hell was he supposed to say now? He had to look cool and actually smart for once. 

“So, Shin-chan, I haven’t seen you in a week, how’ve you been?” Small talk, cool, it’s a start. 

Midorima looked at him with a strange expression. “I didn’t know how to find you.” He said. 

Takao stopped breathing. He was afraid that if he tried, he would make some embarrassing noise because holy shit. Could this mean Shin-chan looked for him? He had to look cool. Say something cool, Takao, he told himself. 

“Oh my god, you looked for me.” Nice try, dumbass, that was as far from cool as it could get. 

“I might have.” Midorima blushed a little. 

Takao smiled. The shyness of the other man and the fact that it was possible Midorima liked him also, made Takao feel warm inside. He didn’t want to make things awkward, so he didn’t press on the subject for the time being. 

“So, a basketball player.” He said, hoping Midorima would elaborate. The green haired man was still standing rigidly in the same spot, like he didn’t know what to do with his long body. 

Midorima pushed his glasses up his nose. “I played basketball in high school.” He said, not making any eye contact. 

“No way!” Takao exclaimed. “I did too! Our paths might have even crossed then, Shin-chan.” Takao threw his best flirtatious smile at the man. 

“You keep calling me that.” Not a question. 

“Do you like it?” Takao asked. 

“No.” Midorima deadpanned, but Takao could see a playful glint in his eyes. He wasn’t even sure how could he notice that, because the man’s face was stone cold serious. 

Takao giggled. He actually _giggled_. “Do you want me to stop?” he asked. 

Midorima looked at him for a second and turned his gaze away again. “Not necessarily.” He whispered. 

Takao flushed. He sat there, wondering how a man, with whom his only two previous encounters were so furiously embarrassing, could make him flush and raise all those creepy moths in his stomach. At that moment, he knew he’d stick to this man until they could not be pulled apart. 

“What’s up with _your_ costume?” Midorima asked looking up and down Takao’s sitting frame. 

The dark haired man laughed. “I’m a girrafaman, ordinary student by day, killer on the dance floor by night.” 

Midorima smiled, though he tried not to show it. It made Takao sad, that the other man always tried to hide his emotions. He was very serious and concentrated. 

“I did see you dance, though I thought it was a crazy drunk person in a giraffe pyjamas.” Did Midorima just mate a joke at him? 

“Hey, my dancing is awesome!” Takao acted like he was offended, but couldn’t keep the smile from showing. 

Midorima looked at him with a glint in his eyes that indicated he was amused. How in only three encounters Takao could read the man, he did not know. But he was very proud that he could. 

Midorima came closer, like he was unsure if he could, and slowly sat down next to Takao. Takao tried to control his body language, because he stiffened in anticipation when Midorima got closer. Midorima smelled like coffee and library. Takao smiled at him. 

“Are you here with friends?” He asked. 

“Yes.” Midorima said, frankly. “I was coerced by my peers to come, though parties are not really my thing. They are yours, I suppose.” He looked at Takao, almost teasing. 

“I’m not always partying, you know. It just happened to be a strange month.” Takao pouted, not wanting Midorima to think that he was a dumb party animal. Party giraffe. He caught Midorima looking at his pout and smiled instead. 

“How was your project?” He asked. 

Midorima looked at him, slightly shocked. “You remember.” 

Takao laughed, embarrassed. “It’s kind of hard to forget, when you made me feel like such a fool”. 

“Well, you kind of were.” Midorima said, this time with a real smirk. “It went great. I got the highest score.” He said, proudly. 

Takao couldn’t help, but look at him with a warm, affectionate smile. He felt a little scared, how quickly Shin-chan had crawled under his skin. 

They sat there and chatted for about an hour. It felt nice, to actually get to know Midorima. He was a medical student on a scholarship, the same like Takao. He had a sister. He liked basketball and was obsessed with horoscopes. They chatted about anything and everything. Midorima seemed to really open up to Takao and that made Takao happy. 

Suddenly, he remembered. “Shin-chan, give me your number!” He said it so loud and so fast, that the demand startled the other man. 

“I had no way to contact you last time and I don’t want to forget it now.” Takao explained, blushing slightly. 

Midorima nodded and averted his gaze. “Do you have your phone with you?” He asked. 

Takao took out his phone from his pocket and passed it to Midorima. Thank God for pockets in onesies. 

Midorima pushed some buttons and a minute later his phone buzzed in his jacket pocket. He handed back Takao his phone and looked at him intently. 

“You’ll call me?” He asked, like he sounded unsure. Takao wanted to take away all his doubts. “Of course I will, he replied, quietly. 

Then, Midorima smiled. Actually smiled, the smile that reached his eyes and he didn’t try to hide it. Takao wanted to kiss that smile. He leaned in slowly. Midorima seemed to get what was happening, because he pulled himself closer to Takao and was beginning to close his eyes in anticipation, when the balcony door flew open. They jerked apart and Midorima almost fell off the bench. 

“Yo, Takao, there you are.” One of Takao’s friends came barging in and grabbed his hand. “Come here, there’s this wicked new game I want to show you.” He pulled Takao after him, not even letting the dark haired man to protest. Takao only managed to direct apologetic smile at a very confused Midorima, when he disappeared behind the corner. It took several minutes for Takao to politely explain to his friends that he wasn’t interested, not at this moment. He just wanted to get back to Sin-chan, and maybe, if he was lucky, that kiss. But when he got back, Midorima wasn’t there. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween!


End file.
